A Mystery in Squirrel Hill: Updated

Update: See my comment, below, for the answer.

So what's with the Blair Witch type fuzzy picture? Are there gruesome little bundles of twigs scattered beneath?

Is there something strange and sinister going on in the basement? What could it be? Is it an ill-conceived decoration left over from Halloween? Where is Dame Agatha when we need her? I'll bet Lord Peter W. would guess- but only because he's such a know-it-all. Have I gone mad? Care to hazard a guess?

Comments

[Nupur]

Are you curing meat of some sort?! I have a feeling that the picture is of some food being preserved :)

[laurie]

First thing I thought of was homemade pine cone peanut butter bird feeders. Can you tell I have small kids??

[Baking Soda]

Uhmmm you start making your own mozzarella or any other kind of soft fresh cheese?

[Julie]

Could this be the air curing? Is there a charcuterie experiment afoot?

[Kimberly]

Charcuterie? Oh, do tell...

[Kitt]

Sausage is my first guess. My dad used to hang summer sausage until it was rock-hard.

But the coverings puzzle me.

[MyKitchenInHalfCups]

You have bats in your belfry and these will frighten them away. Oh, no that wouldn't work as the belfry would be upstairs.
They're made of plastic and frighten squirrels away.
Can't be herbs drying.
Drying something. . . size doesn't seem consistent . . .sausage seems to obvious. . . cheese but that would be so messy on the floor . . .
Do tell . . .

[John]

It must be duck prosciutto. I stumbled across your breakfast sausage post and I'm guessing this is from Ruhlman's book.

PS, it comes out salty, but really good.

[zp]

Your used Giant Eagle vegetable bags grew restless, waiting around the kitchen drawers to be re-used for spring's produce storage, joined a cult (out of a sense of hopelessness) and were hoodwinked into committing mass suicide?

[Lindy]

You are really zeroing in, zp. Not everyone has such insight into, and empathy for, the anguish of the abandoned Giant Eagle bag.

Soon, all will be revealed. Well, not all. We have to wait 8 weeks for the ultimate unveiling. This waiting period is, as you may have guessed, a bizarre cult practice, hitherto known only to the initiates-( except for everyone who read the book, of course.) But I will tell you sooner, because I don't keep secrets very well. I tend to get kicked out of cults for blabbing.

[Lindy]

Revealed: These are sort of a cross between a proscuitto type thing and a dried salami. The scheme- a simple one-is from Chez Jacques, a lovely coffee table-ish book by J. Pepin, which, in addition to being pretty, contains some spiffy recipes.

It is a sort of sausage he found in a provincal market, and figured out. It is made by curing pork tenderloins. So it's shaped like a salami, but a solid piece of meat, cured like a mountain ham, and very unfatty. I've got 4 going on, and it will be 6-8 weeks before they are ready. If they are nice, I'll show you, and supply the directions. He suggests slicing them very thinly, and serving with a baguette and some sweet butter. Sound good to you?

[baking soda]

Oh, so exciting, although I'd be afraid some other creatures (other than my family and yours truly) would get to it before time. Thinly sliced, butter and fresh baguette sound very good to me!

[Lindy]

Karen- That's one of the reasons they are: 1) wrapped in cloth (anti-insect) and 2) hanging from the ceiling (anti-itty-bitty livestock)! The other reason is air circulation.

[zp]

Methinks "air circulation" is a time honored euphemism. Well, I know things like this ARE air cured, but now that you (and baking soda) mention it, that is a very practical reason to hang this sort of thing. I never thought of that.